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The Geometry & History of Symbols of LGBTQ+ Pride: An Intro to JavaScript

CSTA Annual Convention - July 14-16, 2021

Brad Ankney-Math/Computer Science Teacher

Sarah Rizzi- Art Teacher, Art Therapy Graduate Student

Headline/Subject

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Participants should be mindful of the following:

Sessions are recorded.
By default, you are a viewer. Please use the chat to interact with the presenter and moderator
If you join on screen, please keep your microphone muted when you are not speaking with the presenter. Video is recommended but optional.
Remain professional and respectful. Monitor your own airtime and make sure that all voices have a chance to be heard.

Session Norms

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The Rainbow-Have a little fun with Pencilcode.net

hhttp://bankney.pencilcode.net/edit/rainbow

Go to www.pencilcode.net --log in optional

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5 minutes (+/-) of code--

A quick rainbow using dots.

Open pencilcode.net (no account required, but if you want to save make an account.)

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The German criminal code, from 1871 until 1994, stipulated that homosexual acts between men (in addition to child abuse and beastiality) were punishable by imprisonment and “a prompt loss of civil rights.”
During the Holocaust, this was amplified. Adolf Hitler persecuted gay men, lesbians, and trans people in order to “purify” Germany from cultural, racial, and sexual “others.” During the course of the Nazi regime, around 100,000 men were arrested for homosexuality.
Gay male prisoners in concentration camps were forced to wear pink triangles, with the intention that this would be a badge of shame.
Lesbians were assigned a black triangle to indicate that they were “asocial” or “work-shy.”
The pink and black triangles are direct embodiments of genocidal hatred.

The Pink Triangle

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When the Silence = Death Collective debuted, the pink triangle was accepted as a sign of queer resistence and empowerment
Boston’s Black and Pink, founded in the mid-2000’s, use the pink triangle in their branding to acknowledge the symbol’s historical connection to incarceration and hatred while tapping into the empowering potential.
Black and Pink’s work toward the abolition of the prison-industrial complex is rooted in the experience of currently and formerly incarcerated people. The symbol connects the criminalization of queer and trans people across history.

The Pink Triangle

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Cartesian Coordinate System

Equilateral Triangle

Centroid

Circumcenter

Circumcircle

Median of a Triangle

Perpendicular Bisector

Midpoint

Trigonometry-Cosine to calculate the radius of the circle from the side length of the equilateral triangle.

Rotations

Math/Geometry

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IDE-Pencilcode.net

Turtle Library

Variables

Orientation-rotation

For Loop

Link to Project

Link to Math Notes

Coding Concepts

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The iconic rainbow flag, a symbol of celebration and pride, was designed by Gilbert Baker. Baker sometimes performed in drag as “Busty Ross,” and used his handmade costumes as activist tools: early on as “Miss Liberty,” dancing in a dress made of an American flag, and most recently at an anti-Trump rally, wearing a handmade concentration camp uniform with the pink triangle.
Baker designed the flag in 1978 after being asked by San Francisco city supervisor Harvey Milk, who believed the pink triangle was too denigrating and wanted to replace it.
The original design had 8 colors, each with a symbolic meaning:

Hot pink: sex
Red: life
Orange: healing
Yellow: sunlight
Green: nature
Turquoise: magic/art
Indigo: serenity
Violet: spirit

The first two flags (each over 30 feet long!) were handmade at San Francisco’s Gay Community Center. There were about 30 volunteers, and two were major contributors: seamster James McNamara, and tie-dye artist Faerie Argyle Rainbow (now known as Lynn Segerblom). After a tenuous process, the first gay pride flags were raised during San Francisco’s 1978 Gay Freedom Day.

The Rainbow Flag

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The idea that both original flags were the same is a common misconception. One of the flags featured the 8 colored stripes running the length, but the other featured an additional blue section on the pole side of the flag, like the American flag. Rather than 50 evenly spaced stars, Baker’s flag incorporated several small circles of stars, each tie-dyed by Segerblom. One errant, queer star appears in the turquoise stripe. This has rarely been discussed.
The mayor of San Francisco, George Moscone, along with Harvey Milk, were shot and killed by a fellow supervisor, Dan White. This incident shocked LGBTQ communities, as White claimed depression and a diet of Twinkies as a reason for his crime. He was convicted of manslaughter rather than murder.
In response, the Pride Parade Committee endorsed and displayed the flag all along the next year’s parade route.
During the same time, Baker pitched the flag to the Paramount Flag Company to be mass produced. Hot pink was impossible to get as a mass-produced fabric, so Baker dropped hot pink along with turquoise to maintain symmetry: creating the six-striped flag we know today.
For the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, Baker created a mile and a quarter long flag that was displayed in Key West, Florida and then cut up and made into smaller flags that were sent to celebrations across the globe.
After suffering a stroke in 2012, Baker underwent physical therapy and eventually taught himself to sew again. A few years later, he sewed a group of hand-dyed flags that featured the original 8 colors once again--one of which was given to President Barack Obama, who displayed it in the White House.

The Rainbow Flag

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Programming Concepts:

-Html, CSS, JavaScript

-Variables/Literals

-For Loops

-Arrays

-Labels

-Screen Layout (Coordinate System)

-JavaScript Syntax

-Nested Loops

The Rainbow Flag

http://bankney.pencilcode.net/edit/originalRainbowFlag

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Poll-Test your knowledge of LGBTQ++++++++ flags

https://beta.polleverywhere.com/competitions/vrYthJy63CC2CV34EXRA1

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The Progressive Rainbow Flag

Philadelphia’s Office of LGBT Affairs, with the ad agency Tierney, proposed adding two additional stripes--one black and the other brown, after being tasked with addressing an outbreak of racial violence happening within Philadelphia’s gay spaces. This is an emblem of the growing recognition of the intersection of racial and sexual identities.
Recently, a graphic designer named Daniel Quasar (xe, xem, xyr pronouns) suggested another change to further reflect the intersection of LGBTQ communities. Xyr design includes the black and brown stripes, and also light pink, light blue, and white--the colors of the transgender flag. This design suggests that continued work needs to be done to ensure the advancement of all LGBTQ people.